I set a goal in 2015 to read 52 books. Because I have a tendency to read the same kind of literature over and over again, mainly young adult fiction and preferably dystopias, I wanted to make it a bit more difficult for myself, otherwise I’d probably read just that kind of books. So I found a list and tried to read books that fit into the categories on it.

Did I reach my goal? Nope. I managed to tick off 36 (out of 50) categories on my list, and in total during 2015 I read 41 books. I’m a slow reader and sometimes I don’t read for weeks on end. Last year I had two major dips in my reading, each lasted five weeks. It’s easy to do the math – if I read about one book a week, I lost ten books on those dips.

The good news in all this is that I read books that I probably wouldn’t have read, hadn’t they been in the categories on my list. For example The Trialby Franz Kafka. I had started it before and started it again (and hated it again), but finished it to be able to tick it off my list. I also hated Four: A Divergent story collectionby Veronica Roth, but I finished it anyways. To be honest I usually do finish everything I start to read, just in case it gets better towards the end.

Reading through the list of books I read last year to pick my three favorites, I see a definite pattern. Not that I haven’t read different kinds of books, but… Look at these, my three favorites from last year, in no particular order: Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta, I’ll give you the sun by Jandy Nelson, and Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta. Should I be embarrassed by the fact that I am not a 16 year old girl but rather a 37 year old woman? Let’s just say I am a young woman at heart… (And that Marchetta is a new favorite!)

Picture borrowed.

Now this year I have a new reading goal. I do have a list that I found, but that list only has 26 books on it. My goal though is to read more than I did during 2015, and so I hope to read 45 books. I think the freedom of not always having to fit my books into a category will make it easier for me to read more, but having the list makes it more of a challenge.

Here’s the list now:

A – a book with an APOCALYPTICAL theme
B – a BEST selling novel
C – a book with a CAT on the cover
D – a DIARY E – a book with an ELEMENT in the title
F – a book you got for FREE
G – a GHOST story
H – a book set in a HOT country
I – a book with an INDUSTRIAL theme
J – a JUNIOR novel
K – a book where noone gets KILLED
L – a book from a LIST
M – a book with a MONTH in the title
N – a book with your NAME in the title
O – a book with an ORANGE cover
P – a POETRY book
Q – a book with a QUESTION in the title
R – a RARE book
S – a SCI-FI book
T – a book with TRAVELLING in it
U – a book with an UNHAPPY ending
V – a VIOLENT book
W – a book with a lot of WATER in it
X – a book whose author has an X in their name
Y – a book by an author YOUNGER than you
Z – a book about ZOMBIES